Patti LuPone to Receive Signature’s Stephen Sondheim Award

Patti LuPone has been named as the recipient of the Arlington, Virginia-based Signature Theatre’s third annual Stephen Sondheim Award. It will be presented to her at the company’s gala benefit, to be held at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC. on April 16, 2012.

LuPone has won Tony Awards for her performances in Evita and Gypsy. Among her other Broadway credits are The Robber Bridegroom, Master Class, The Old Neighborhood, Anything Goes, Sweeney Todd, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. She returns to the Great White Way next month in the theatrical concert, An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin.

The Stephen Sondheim Award was established in 2009 in recognition of the importance of Sondheim’s work to Signature and to theater in general. It is given annually to an individual for his or her career contributions to interpreting, supporting, and collaborating on Stephen Sondheim’s music works. Past recipients include Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters.

In a statement, Sondheim remarks, “There are few performers who can play both Mrs. Lovett and Fosca, Evita and Reno Sweeney, Nancy in Oliver! and Cora Hoover Hooper in Anyone Can Whistle, and still create roles for David Mamet. In fact, there’s only one. Versatility of such a high caliber is rare indeed, and therefore it couldn’t be more appropriate that the recipient of this year’s Signature Theatre Sondheim Award is going to the best tuba player on Broadway: Patti LuPone.”

For tickets and more information on the 2012 Sondheim Award Gala, call 571-527-1828 or email events@signature-theatre.org.